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Editorial News of Tuesday, 19 June 2001

Source: --

Stinking legacy of ex-GhanAir boss

The Independent says when Ghana Airways increased its flight routes some two years ago, the decision was hailed as a necessary recipe to lift the airline from the doldrums.

Apart from its strength on the West Coast, the new routes to the United States JFK Airport in New York and Baltimore, South Africa and Dubai in the Middle East offered an international lifeline to the nation's premier airline.

But The Independent has discovered that what seemed a laudable idea was a big hoax and preparatory ground to take over the ownership of the company. Ghanair was placed on divestiture by the former regime of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The former management thus set itself a scheming agenda to impress their employers in the take-over bid. The first of the schemes was to increase flight operations of the airline although it was run at a great loss to the company.

Credible sources at the Ghanair hinted The Independent that the Dubai route caused Ghanair losses that run into millions of dollars. "We sometimes travel with 19 people on the DC 10 flight which has a capacity of 270 people", one source disclosed.

Similarly losses were recorded on the DC 10's operations to the Republic of South Africa. The new management of Ghanair is all set for an image redemption exercise albeit at a great cost. The first to feel the heat are workers of the airline. Their salaries and allowances have been slashed by thirty percent. According to management sources.